ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not import wheat during the current year owing to sufficient stock in the country, said Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNF&R) Secretary Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry on Thursday.
The secretary, while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research which met with MNA Syed Hussain Tariq in the chair, said that neither the federal government nor the provisional governments will import wheat during the ongoing year.
“Sufficient stock of wheat is available with provinces,” he said, adding that there will be no issue regarding the availability of wheat this year. He said the private sector would be brought in to increase wheat storage capacity.
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When MNA Muhammad Naeem Watto asked “has the government framed any policy for wheat procurement for Food Year 2024-25,” the secretary said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted to prepare a wheat procurement plan for Food Year 2024-25. “The committee will submit its recommendations regarding wheat procurement,” he said.
Watto said that next season, farmers will not cultivate wheat. During the current year, due to high temperatures there is early onset of hot weather in Punjab, he said, adding that owing to the lack of rain, wheat production in Punjab province will be low.
He said that next year’s wheat production will depend on this year’s wheat prices. “If farmers and wheat growers did not get reasonable prices this year, then it will affect next year’s production,” he said.
The secretary said “during the Food Year 2024-25 wheat support price will not be announced for wheat season 2024-25 as we have agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that wheat prices will be deregulated.”
He said that in the upcoming financial year budget projects in Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP) will be included under Uraan Pakistan economic plan.
The prime minister has issued directives to the ministry to prepare departmental plan, he said, adding the Planning Commission and the prime minister will jointly oversee it. He said the Fisheries and Livestock Departments are being abolished.
The committee chairman said that “Uraan Pakistan is a good plan but we did not achieve the growth target of different crops. What measures have been proposed for food security as during the next 10 years population will further increase,” he said, adding the ministry needed to make a comprehensive plan for food security for the next 10 years.
He said that a long-term plan was the need of the hour; therefore, the ministry should present a plan regarding food security before the committee.
The committee was informed that out of 26 ongoing schemes, 18 would be carried forward to the next fiscal year, and 36 new schemes would be introduced.
A senior official of MNFS&R told the committee that in Pakistan, taxes on imported items were the highest in the world. The investors did not come to Pakistan for investment due to the highest tax, he said.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Waseem Qadir, Nadeem Abbas, Zulfiqar Ali Behan, Muhammad Ameer Sultan and Keso Mal Kheal Das.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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